A rendering of the bell tower entrance to the new Sherman Library & Gardens on Pacific Coast Highway in Corona del Mar.
A garden should grow and flourish, especially if it is carefully cultivated with a little water and a lot of love.
Sherman Library & Gardens, a nonprofit organization and educational and cultural center (including a top-notch botanical garden and an excellent research library) in Corona del Mar, has been delighting visitors for nearly 60 years, and it’s poised to grow and thrive, too.
Last month, Sherman Library and Gardens launched its “Grow the Gardens” campaign, which aims to raise at least $13 million to reconfigure, renovate and re-envision the facility, and to date, more than half of the campaign's estimated total funds have been raised.
According to information from Sherman Library and Gardens, the Grow the Gardens campaign supports improvements to create more opportunity in the community, including:
New education spaces and programs that will enhance the community's encounters with the botanical and historical wonders of the Pacific Southwest. The tropical conservatory and shade house, used extensively in education programs, will be renovated to protect the health of the precious plant collections, including orchids. These improvements will make Sherman Library & Garden the most accessible and walkable botanical garden in Southern California, allowing visitors to see a wide variety of beauty from around the world on a quiet, relaxing stroll. Sherman Library & Garden's 3,000 household members and 8,000 individual members will greatly benefit from improved access, renovated amenities and enhanced program offerings, improving their overall health and well-being.
Rendering of Corona del Mar's new Sherman Library & Gardens restaurant (garden view).
“We work every day to fulfill our mission to inspire and educate our community with a deeper appreciation of history, horticulture and the arts,” Scott LaFleur, executive director of Sherman Library and Gardens, told a crowd of supporters and donors at the Grow the Gardens launch. “Education programs continue to further Sherman Library and Gardens' mission of providing opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to engage and connect with nature. Currently, Sherman Library and Gardens is in the midst of a revival. We have a vision for the future. We are growing gardens. We want to honor the past, preserve history and leave a legacy.”
The central patio will be repurposed for educational programming only, LaFleur said, and the restaurant will relocate to Pacific Coast Highway and add a rooftop deck to enhance the dining experience.
“The symbol of our Renaissance is the bell from Sherman Ranch in Baja California,” LaFleur says. “This will be our new front door.”
Among the names LaFleur cited as donors were the Julia Argyros Bell Tower, Samueli Central Garden Walk and the Jennifer and Anton Segerstrom Conservatory of Music.
Longtime Newport Beach residents Janet and Walkie Ray head up the “Grow the Gardens” committee.
“There will be many opportunities to weave your name into our story,” LaFleur said.
And growing the Garden means welcoming more visitors, offering more community service and education programs, supporting more local artists, writers and performers, and celebrating more seasons of life with Orange County families.
For more information about the “Grow the Gardens” campaign, visit https://thesherman.org
A rendering of the new Sherman Library & Gardens restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway in Corona del Mar.
About Sherman Library & Garden: Sherman Library & Garden is a nonprofit organization with deep roots in Orange County for more than half a century, serving the community as a sanctuary of history and beauty and a home for education. Founded in 1966 by Arnold Haskell and named for his friend and mentor Moses Hazeltine Sherman, the iconic institution serves as the custodian of local history and artifacts, a living library of native and exotic plants, and a preserver of art inspired by and created in the Pacific Southwest.
Today, Sherman Library & Gardens stands as a monument to Haskell's dream of an educational and cultural center that would include a first-rate botanical garden and an outstanding research library. Sherman Library & Gardens was recently proclaimed by the Newport Beach City Council the “Cultural Center” of Corona del Mar. Sherman Library & Gardens is located at 2647 E. Coast Hwy. in Corona del Mar.
